Writer Routine Wednesday: Stephanie Newton

Hey, all! Today marks the first day of my new blog segment:
Writer Routine Wednesday, where every Wednesday from now until the end of August I will host an author. We'll get to know them better and their books as well as hear them describe their usual writing routine. Maybe you'll pick up an idea they use for yourself! Lots of great prizes are scheduled too!
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So, please welcome author Stephanie Newton today and hear about her writing routine!

BIO: Stephanie Newton’s first book for Love Inspired Suspense hit the shelves in March 2009 and won the Romantic Times’ Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Love Inspired Suspense. She’s currently working on Point Blank Protector, Book 6 in her Emerald Coast 911 series, an April 2010 release.

Steph will be speaking with USA Today bestselling author Catherine Mann and Sr Editors Melissa Endlich and Krista Stroever on tightening tension using the five senses at the RWA National conference.
FMI: http://www.stephanienewtonbooks.com/

Thanks for stopping by, Stephanie!

Please describe for our audience a “typical” writing day for yourself. For example: Do you get up have your coffee, check e-mail, then write to a certain time? Do you have a set word or page goal when you write?

I’m laughing a little to myself at the thought of a typical writing day (just not so loud that the other people here in the café at Borders will think I’m crazy!) Really, I’m constantly trying to figure out ways to fit together the pieces of my life in some kind of coherent pattern. My latest experiment, one that seems to be working really well, is to power write a couple of hours at a time. I have a partner that I’m working with who also had some immediate writing goals. We check in by instant message at the beginning of the writing time and after each hour. I’m not an extremely fast writer in any case, but I’ve been able to plow through some pages. I think it helps knowing that I’m going to have to report my progress!
When a deadline gets close, I write all day and it’s every man for himself (or herself) at our house.

Do you have another job outside of writing? (Being a mommie definitely counts!!) If the answer is yes, describe how you balance the two and how much time you devote to each.

I’m lucky that writing is my full-time job. I have two teenagers and I love that I’m able to have a job and be home when they are home. My youngest is home-schooled, so she keeps me company during the day and even critiques for me occasionally.

Are you a laptop, PC, Alphasmart, or by hand kind of writer?

I work on a laptop and carry it everywhere with me--you never know where inspiration will strike! (Or a guitar lesson runs over or soccer practice goes an extra thirty minutes and I’m in the car with time on my hands…) The bad thing about hauling a computer everywhere is that it significantly shortens the life span of said computer. I’ve gone through three laptops in four years. I finally bought a major life insurance policy for the last one. The guy at the store said it would cover anything except falling into the pool with the computer. Personally, considering my luck, I think it should cover that too.

Plotter or panster? If you’re a plotter, how much time do think you put into plotting before writing.

I’m a pantser who has to plot to sell on proposal. I write three chapters which takes me a month or two and then write a synopsis, which takes a week or two. My synopses are pretty detailed, around 15 pages. To my surprise, it actually turns out to be pretty helpful to have. As I’m writing one scene, I check the synopsis for what should come next and I’m mulling that over in my mind while I’m writing. I jot ideas down at the end of the manuscript and delete them as I write them.
Sometimes things completely change from the synopsis while I’m writing. For instance, when I was writing Smoke Screen, I got about halfway through it and realized the villain I thought was the villain really wasn’t. Fortunately, I have an editor who understands writers.

Some writers make collages or listen to or create music soundtracks for their work-in-progress? Do you do any of those or have you thought about doing one of them?

I make a soundtrack for each book when I’m writing the first three chapters and learning about the characters. Most of the time, the songs I pick are reminders of who a character is, what their heart conflict is. Sometimes a song evokes the tone of the book that I’m going for and sometimes it’s just a song that I’m loving at that point in time, one that brings out an emotional response in me (which makes it easier to write). The last book I wrote (which comes out in Nov), I listened to the Lady Antebellum song Need You Now about a million times as I was writing, not because it meant anything for the characters, but because I loved it so much! My daughter refuses to listen to it. Ever again.

What’s your favorite book on writing?
My all-time favorite is the Vogler book, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers and Screenwriters. I like to use it as I’m plotting a synopsis. A writing friend gave me another book recently that has lots of great little gems of advice: The Writer’s Little Helper by James V Smith. It’s a Writer’s Digest book with colorful pages and short snippets of advice, perfect for someone with attention issues like me!

What’s your favorite fiction book you’ve read so far this year?

Oh, wow, that’s a hard question. I’m trying to read a variety of fiction and am keeping a list of books that I’ve read this year on my blog--it’s the first time I’ve done that. I do read reviews in some cases before I pick a book (Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas and Something About You by Julie James). Some are auto-buys (Brenda Minton, Ally Carter, Catherine Mann, Nora Roberts) and some are lucky surprises (Ingrid Weaver’s Her Baby’s Bodyguard). The one that I was glued to for five hours, all the way home from a soccer trip, in which we could’ve had a wreck and I wouldn’t have noticed, is Laura Griffin’s Untraceable. Since I started this little reading experiment, I’ve been encouraged at the really good fiction in all sub genres that I read. I love a good book!

What’s your favorite way to reward yourself after you’ve finished writing a book?
Cupcakes!

Too funny! Thank you, Stephanie, so much for sharing a little of your writing routine and life with us today!

Here's a little bit about Stephanie's new book, Flashpoint, her Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense due out July 2010




BLURB:

With his first major case, fire-cop-in-training Matt Clark finally has the chance to shed his image as the Clark family’s goofy youngest son. Then an explosion lands Matt and his partner, Lara Hughes, in the hospital. As the investigation--and the fires--gain momentum, Lara’s now a witness, needing all the protection Matt can give…if she’ll let him. Lara’s worked hard to keep her distance from Matt, but a desperate choice to save the investigation leaves her with nowhere else to turn.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Well it's up for pre-order on Amazon. com but if you don't want to wait, Harlequin has up for sale in their ebook store and print book store now.

CONTEST: Stephanie has generously offered to give away not one, not two, but three copies of her book Flashpoint AND a partial critique for this Writer Routine Wednesday special.

Please leave a comment below to be entered to win. The giveaway contest will run from now until Thursday 11:59PM (EST).

I will announce the 4 lucky winners this Friday!



Good luck and get into your writing routine!